Jesus Freaks

[sweetpea316]

That is understandable... The word freak is kinda odd to be associated with Jesus. But it goes along with their song about it in the first place. (dcTalk) But yes, I can definitely see why the wording rubs you the wrong way. 'Freak' is usually meaning a bad thing, but in this case, its meant to be a great thing; as someone who is soo in love and passionate about our Lord! And also, in the song about it, it talks about how other people label them as a 'Jesus Freak' because they live for Christ. I think its sending out a good message overall, as long as you know what they're talking about.

[melporcristo]

well said Sweetpea! It's like saying you are a fool for Christ!
"What would people think when they hear that I'm a Jesus Freak, what would people do when they find out its true?" -- It's definately a sign of humbleness to the Lord.

[HomeTeamFamily]

ive read the book, inspiring i guess.....it did seem rather protestant

on a similar note, has anyone else noticed how protestants can give Catholics media and be like "well look at the theme" or other general theology comments like that, but if we were to give a protestant something by scott hahn or any saint, they could read it and be like, i liked it as a book but totally disregard the Catholic themes and elements?

[jmjtina]

I think their music is okay, I'm not debating that. I know what they are talking about but thier view of someone "sooooo in love" with the Lord has more of a meaning to me than "freak". Honestly, who is called a freak and it actually means something positive? Not counting when I call my sister that............

A fool for Christ? I don't know, I guess the term "fool" "freak" and martyr used interchangably just rub me the wrong way. A radical maybe.....

thier music is alright.

But give me Bebo Norman and Jeremy Camp anyday!

[DemonSlayer]

If it's anti-catholic, I can't see how it could be inspirational for Catholics.

[Jesus Freak]

First of all, i would like to say that dc Talk is one of the best Christian bands ever. It inspires me when i am feeling down and out.
Yes, the word "freak" with Jesus was first used as a derogitory (is that spelled right?) phrase. But it has gradually changed into something that Christians (depending on denomination) endorse and are proud of. Christians are not supposed to be like the average person. We are supposed to be different, or "freakish" if you will. We are Freaks for Jesus.

Think about it?

Freak

[jezic]

i read the book and it was one of the things that brought me back the second time.

It isn't Catholic but that is alright.

Actually i read both of them. They are sitting on my shelf now.

However, at this point i would much rather prefer something about a saint. They are very interesting as well.

[MichaelFilo]

Derogatory remarks about the Church with inspiritational messages still denounce your Church. Looking past hate directed towards the Church is askin to not seeing the Devil in his work. If the martyrs aren't Catholic, then it would be hard to imagine they are alighted with a passion for Christ, since they reject his Church. Although, if they have Catholic martyrs, those would be cool, the book would still be rubbish if it has anti-Catholicism in it.

God bless,
Mikey

[Jesus Freak]

Jesus Freak is not used as derogatory anymore.

[MichaelFilo]

Ummm, no.

Athina and Marina have called me a "Jesus Freak".

Comming form their dual-athiesm and considering that they both said it but at different times, denotes that is still in vibrant use.

For everyone who wouldn't know who those two are, let me say this, it is in use and has been applied to myself.

God bless,
Mikey

[Brother Adam]

They also called St. Paul a fool for his faith in Christ.

"Blessed are you when others persecute you, for yours is the kingdom of God"

However, I cannot endorse the book. I have read it cover to cover and was a member of Voice of the Martyrs, the organization that sponsored the book for many years as a Baptist. You won't find a great deal of directly anti-Catholic language in the book or the magazine, but I kid you not they are anti-Catholic. They consider Catholics missionary territory and do not include the Catholic population when giving percentages on how much of a country is Christian. If a country is comprised of 25% athiests, 25% protestants, 25% Catholics, and 25% Muslims they will say that only 25% of the country are true Christians.

You absolutely cannot beat the Saints when it comes to inspiring martyr stories. If you read the Lives of the Saints and then Protestant martyrs, it pales in comparison. I'm not downing those Protestants who die for their faith, but Jesus Freaks is not a good source to learn about martyrs.



btw, I love DC Talk. 'specially Supernatural and Colored People.

[MichaelFilo]

I guessed correctly then. Congratulations to me.

God bless,
Mikey

[Mogmog]

This book does have some carp in it, but it also has some modern Catholic martyrs too such as Maximillion Kolbe. A mixed bag.

[Jesus Freak]

I just bought the book and I like it so far. It encourages me. I do not care if is anti-Catholic, i am not anti-Catholic, but I am Protestant. Just because one group of Protestants is anti-Catholic does not mean that we all are. I do know a few anti-Protestant Catholics and you guys have almost as much extreme hatred for Protestants as Islamics have for Christians.

[sweetpea316]

Hmm...not sure what to say about where this topic is going...

But, I'm proud to have been called a Jesus Freak. I've been called worse, but I take it as a compliment. God bless.

[luciana]

[quote name='bookwyrm' date='Apr 15 2005, 06:31 PM'] I read some of it, but I don't think it's a Catholic book, is it? I seem to recall some stories which portrayed the Church rather unflatteringly... Besides, my Baptist friend gave it to me when she was trying to convert me.  [/quote]
My lil' sister has it. My other younger sister gave it to her, when she was nfluencing her to start going to her non-denom. church. She is highly influenced by her. When I give her books she just ignores them. Once, when I was upset over this, ( a book I had given her as part of a gift was just lying in a corner in the bag, never used), I confronted her about this , pointing at the Jesus Freaks book she was reading on her bed, which she was always reading, saying, "how come you never read my books, and this book misrepresents the Church, and probably has Catholic martyrs, but they won't mention them as specifically Catholic, blah, blah.." and she got REALLLY defensive, shouting, "How do you know, and you don't know anything, blah, blah..." Sooo, I knew I definitely didn't bring that up properly -_- ( I let my emotions get in the way; I have gotten better at this-_- ) and that the book probably was ummm.. at least a little anti-catholic to some extent.

I did pick it up in a bookstore and read some passages. I like dcTalk a lot and in the song the term is used in a good way, in a "I-don't-care-that-you-mock-me-for-my-belief-way", but regarding the book I would probably recommend others:

[i]The Catholic Martys of the Twentieth Century[/i] by Robert Royal, (for modern martyrs)

or any book of the Saints.

[Paladin D]

I own Volume #2, that's it. It's a pretty interesting book, but unfortunately it doesn't list the Crusaders as martyrs at well, generalizing all of them as [b]"murderors"[/b].

[savedbygrace]

What is wrong with the teachings of Luther? At the time of the reformation he didn't want to start another church he wanted to change the semi-corupt-at -the-time Catholic one. He wanted to translate the Bible into German so that the people could read it for themselves instead of having to relie on priests to read it for them.

I like the Jesus Freak books. We read from them at camp before bed each night.

[luciana]

The bible existed in German way before Luther. Most people at the time couldn't read, though, so listening to the priest would be the only wat to know the scriptures , in any language.

.[quote]Ulfilas (ca. 381)
The earliest Germanic version of the Bible was Ulfilas' Gothic translation from Latin and Greek. From Ulfilas came much of the Germanic Christian vocabulary that is still in use today. Later Charlemagne (Karl der Große) would foster Frankish (Germanic) biblical translations in the 9th century. Over the years, prior to the appearance of the first printed German Bible in 1466, various German and German dialect translations of the Scriptures were published. The Augsburger Bibel of 1350 was a complete New Testament, while the Wenzel Bible (1389) contained the Old Testament in German.

Gutenberg Bible (1455)
Johannes Gutenberg's so-called 42-line Bible, printed in Mainz, was in Latin. About 40 copies exist today in various states of completeness. It was Gutenberg's invention of printing with movable type that made the Bible, in any language, vastly more influential and important. It was now possible to produce Bibles (and other books) in greater quantities at a lower cost.

First Printed Bible in German (1466)
Before Martin Luther was even born, a German-language Bible was published in 1466, using Gutenberg's invention. Known as the Mentel Bible, this Bibel was a literal translation of the Latin Vulgate. Printed in Strassburg, the Mentel Bible appeared in some 18 editions until it was replaced by Luther's new translation in 1522[/quote]from about.com

If you would like to know more about Luther and the Protestant Rev. check out the articles in the reference section. [url="http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=12032"]http://phorum.phatmass.com/index.php?showtopic=12032[/url]